In a disappointing verdict, the Madras High Court has acquitted seven people and modified the sentences of two others accused in the July 16, 2004, school fire tragedy at Kumbakonam in which 94 children died and 14 were maimed for life.
The court ordered the release of Pulavar Palanisamy, the founder of the Sri Krishna Matriculation School, and reduced his penalty from Rs5mn to Rs116,000. It also reduced the five-year sentence of the school’s cook Vasanthi to two years. Palanisamy’s wife was exonerated as she had died during the trial.
In 2014, 11 of the original 21 accused were acquitted by a lower court, while the others were convicted. The current verdict angered the victims’ parents.
“This is a major shock for us. The accused weren’t even imprisoned for two years. For secure school structures to come into effect, these 94 children sacrificed their lives. Till date, the government has neglected us. If there is a case involving biggies somehow they use force to win.”
Many of the surviving children were maimed from the burns and trauma.
The fire started from the kitchens of the school and spread through its thatched roof to the four-storey building which had only one staircase. Most of the children were charred to death in their classrooms and the congested staircase.
Seven die in vehicle pile-up in Vellore
Seven people including two women died and three were critically injured in a road accident following a vehicle pile-up at Rathnagiri near Vellore about 140km from Chennai last week.
The accident occurred when Gnanaraj, who was driving a car, braked suddenly to avoid hitting Ravichandran, a two-wheeler driver who was taking a U-turn in front of him. Next, an SUV and a Mercedes car coming from behind also crashed into them.
Gnanaraj, Ravichandran and the Mercedes driver along with four occupants of the two cars died immediately. Fortunately a truck following at a slower speed escaped the impact. Passersby rescued the trapped occupants and admitted them to nearby hospitals.
In a separate accident, eight people including two French tourists were injured when a tourist bus fell into a ravine on the Theni-Kodaikanal hill road. The driver allegedly lost control while turning on a hairpin bend between Pulathur and Nandanparai. The injured were admitted to hospitals at Batlagundu town in the foothills.
In a third incident, a luxury bus from Bengaluru caught fire at Poonamallee in suburban Chennai. Luckily the driver and 42 passengers escaped unhurt.
Ex-minister’s son held over money laundering
Mani Anbazhagan, the son of late DMK minister Ko S Mani, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for money laundering in Chennai last week.
The ED said Mani Anbazhagan opened eight current accounts at the Indian Bank in Thousand Lights area and transferred Rs750mn through a number of shell companies abroad. The foreign exchange was made with forged import documents that contained Mani’s home and office addresses. The fraud came to light during a recent bank audit.
In a separate incident T Kumar, the corporation commissioner of Vellore district, was arrested for demanding bribes and accumulating wealth disproportionate to his income. The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) reported that he had demanded a bribe of Rs20,000 from Balaji who had been contracted for a mass cleaning project in Vellore against dengue and other air borne diseases.
Balaji said that Kumar refused to release the government payment of Rs1mn without paying the bribe.
Tamil
